Dr. Chante WIldgoose
To animal lovers, violence against animals is cruel and unfathomable. To the rest of the world, it is ‘just an animal.’ Humans matter more. But aren’t humans really the cruelest species of all? Most animals kill for food and territory, but humans kill also for sport, entertainment, fashion, and cosmetics!
Who Commits Violence Against Animals?
Many researchers have found that a history of animal violence indicates a high propensity for interpersonal violence. Simply, those who abuse animals usually move on to human victims. Although not all animal abusers become serial killers, most serial killers began their killing spree with animals. The difference is that those who do not learn that it is cruel and wrong. In any case, repeated and extreme violence indicates a serious psychological violence that requires immediate treatment.
Look these examples up: Jeffery Dahmer, the Boston strangler, Russel Weston Jr, Richard Allen Davis, Andrew Golden, Theodore Robert Bundy, Micahel Cartier, Henry Lee Lucas, Edward Kemperer, Richard Speck, Randy Roth, Peter Kurten…just to name a few. You will find that they all are convicted killers that started out practicing violent acts against animals.
What Provokes Violence Against Animals?
The cause of animal violence, according to Mother Hildegard George, a child psychologist and nun, is our culture of violence. This culture of violence conditions and sensitizes us to violence, and teaches us to discriminate, against people different from us, and animals. Discrimination is dangerous because it gives us an excuse to exercise that propensity for violence embedded in us. It gives us an excuse to abuse, mistreat, and deny rights to those we discriminate against. This is evident in the slavery of black people in America last century and early this century, abuse of the Jewish people in Nazi Germany in World War II, devaluation of women before this century, and worldwide abuse of animals to perpetuate the human race.
How Can Violence Against Animals Be Stopped?
What we must do is to change our perceptions and open our eyes. After all, animals inhabited this world way before us. What rights have we to abuse and enslave them to ‘improve’ our lives? This past week I had the most extreme case ever. Right here in Western Grand Bahama, a beloved and well taken care of dog named ‘Bolgard’ who usually barked to protect his territory upset some sick individual (s) for the last time. The person (s) held Bolgard’s head under his fence and chopped half of his face including his nose off. Bolgard was alive when his family came home from work and school and he was rushed to the veterinary clinic where an attempt was made to save him but his injuries were way too severe. The unfortunate thing is as the owner of this dog questioned neighbours about what happened to his dog, no one was around and of course anyone that heard saw nothing. How will justice be served for Bolgard and his family?
Lawmakers must be made aware of this connection between animal cruelty and interpersonal violence, and laws changed to detect, rehabilitate or punish animal abusers. Humane education should be practiced in schools. Pets should be treated as members of the family, not as an inferior species. Children should be taught to respect all animals, and then they will too respect all life. Right now, we should increase awareness of this connection between animal cruelty and interpersonal violence. Imagine if people were taught this fact, how many lives, animal and human, could have been saved.
